Chapter 110

Chapter 110

The carriage stopped before the residence of Margrave Rowlocks and its door opened, revealing Rei, Ara and Elena .

After that, from the shadow of the carriage, Set moved next to Rei .

The three of them, and Set . No, including the adventurer they had hired as a driver, the four people and one animal were greeted by Margrave Daska Rowlocks when they stepped forward .

「Elena-dono, you’ve come back safely . Rei as well, you’ve protected Elena well . 」

「……No, if I were stronger, I could have reduced the number of people who died . 」

At Rei’s words, Daska looked to see who else had stepped down from the carriage .

Certainly, compared to when they left the city of Gimuru, Vel and Kuust were missing . Instead, another adventurer had joined them .

「No, in the end, I had only requested Rei to escort Elena-dono . I have no complaints as the person you were meant to escort, Elena-dono, has come back safely . ……Elena-dono, I would like to hear the story, but if you don’t mind, would you like to go in first?」

Elena nodded at Daska’s words and turned to look at the adventurer .

「Sorry, but please leave the carriage with Margrave Rowlocks . We plan to leave before the 9am bell tomorrow morning, so please be ready for that . Here is another reward separate from the request remuneration . Take a break for today . 」

After Elena said that, Ara handed several silver coins to the man .

「I-Is that okay?　In addition to the normal remuneration……」

「It’s okay . I’ve had to force various things on you . Go restore your energy . 」

「Thank you very much . Then, I will accept your offer!」

Bowing his head, the adventurer drove the carriage in the direction guided by the mansion staff . Set had already become accustomed to what he had to do and followed after the carriage .

Seeing them off, Daska guided Elena into the residence .

They then arrived at Daska’s office, where he had previously discussed the request .

(……That reminds me, I was attacked by Kuust as soon as I entered last time . )

As Rei remembered some unpleasant but vivid memories, he stood with Ara behind Elena, who sat on the sofa opposite Daska .

Since Rei had been escorting Elena due to Daska’s nominated request, normally, he should have been standing behind Daska . However, because Daska hadn’t announced the completion of the request, he took his position as Elena’s escort .

Smiling wryly at Rei’s dutifulness, Daska immediately started to talk after a maid brought in some tea .

「Now then . May I congratulate you on your safe return?」

「Yes……that’s right . Although our task was only half finished in various ways, we have achieved our goal to some extent . I could that say an unfortunate problem occurred . 」

「……That’s a strange way of saying things . Could you explain in more detail . 」

Elena thought for a moment if she should tell Daska about it, but in the end, it was an event inside Margrave Rowlock’s territory .

(In addition……)

Elena turned to look at Rei, who was standing behind her . Rei was an adventurer in this city, and since he had refused her offer to join the Knights, he would remain in the city of Gimuru without a doubt . In that situation, she judged that Daska would probably find out about what happened in the dungeon in the end .

A temporary cover up story wouldn’t cut it, and since he did rule this territory, Elena decided on the proper method and spoke up without anymore hesitation .

「First of all, our main purpose for this trip was the Inheritance Ceremony . In this regard, it was about 70% completed . Although it was only 70%, because the magic stone used was my family’s heirloom, a magic stone of an Ancient Dragon, it was still completed successfully even with the unexpected events . 」

Saying that, Elena released the magic power that she had suppressed for a moment .

In that moment, a torrent of magic power gushed out, centered around Elena, causing the tea cups on the table to rattle . Daska felt daunted by the intense pressure being released by the Duke’s daughter before him .

「……I can’t fully control it right now, so that’s how it is . 」

「No, that’s great . It seems you have acquired quite a bit of power . 」

Daska replied as such . However, his back was covered in cold sweat .

Among the Knights at Margrave Rowlock’s frontier territory, he had the highest sensitivity to magic power . For anyone who understood magic power, this would have caused a huge commotion……but right now, Daska was the only one nearby .

「However, it’s only 70% . ……You said that there were issues that lead to it being only 70% . 」

「……Ah . Does Daska-dono remember the subordinates I had brought along?」

「Mm . There was Kuust, who came ahead of you, and another one called Vel . Both were your subordinates and looked to be quite skillful . 」

「About them, Vel……actually turned out to have links to the Bestir Empire . 」

「……What?」

He had links to the Bestir Empire . Hearing her explanation, Daska’s expression became grim .

「Is that confirmed?」

「There’s no doubt . He seems to have proclaimed it proudly himself . 」

「……Wait . Then Elena-dono didn’t hear it yourself?」

「That’s right . Anyhow, I fainted from the resulting shock after Vel destroyed the magic stone half way through the ceremory . Originally, it seems that he wanted to assassinate me as well but Rei helped me out . For that, I am grateful that Daska-dono chose Rei to be my escort . 」

Daska looked past Elena, who had bowed her head, to Rei, who was standing behind her .

「Rei, is what Elena-dono said true?」

「Yes . Vel had defected to the Bestir Empire . 」

「……Elena-dono, Duke Kerebel?」

At Daska’s question, Elena nodded naturally .

「I have already informed him by letter . If we are lucky, I think it will be possible to pursue Viscout Sails, Vel’s family, before they escape the Mireana Kingdom……this depends on the speed of my father’s actions . 」

「Is that so . Then I have nothing to say . But from the Nobles Faction……moreover, since it was Viscount Sails, who was close to Duke Kerebel, who defected to the Empire, it will be a very awkward situation……」

「I think my father will lose some cohesion in the faction, that can’t be avoided . However, should I say that there is a bright side to this unfortunate case, it is already autumn . Even if the Bestir Empire decides to go to war, it will probably be next spring . I would like to believe there is time to reconsider our situation . 」

「……Isn’t there a possibility that they will move quickly for a decisive battle between autumn and winter?」

「I considered that possibility as well . However, so far, the Bestir Empire has never fought a war in winter and above all, their soldiers wouldn’t be able to keep advancing through the snow . If they did, it would be a small number specialising in sabotage……even if it’s the best of the Bestir Empire, in small numbers, we can deal with them . 」

「…………」

After listening to Elena’s story, Daska considered something in his mind before giving a small nod .

「I understand . I’ll make some preparations to be able to respond immediately if anything happens . 」

「……Is that alright? This is a fight that has come about due to my Nobles Faction . For Daska-dono who is in the Neutral Faction……」

At Elena’s words, Daska shook his head .

「Certainly, there’s a power struggle occurring between the Royalists, Nobles and Neutral Factions . However, even if there is a power struggle, we have to consider the Mireana Kingdom . At the very least, I don’t intend to go over to the Bestir Empire . 」

「……Sorry . 」

「What, don’t mind it . ……However, if the situation was as you said, it was good that the adventurer I sent this time was Rei . If it were an ordinary rank B or rank C adventurer, the would have been taken out by Vel . 」

「Ah . In that respect, I am thankful to Daska-dono for sending Rei . 」

As he nodded at Elena’s words, there was a knock on the door and the butler came in .

「Master, the rooms have been prepared . 」

「Thanks for your hard work . Elena-dono, you must be tired from your travels today . There is a bath available . 」

「I will accept Daska-dono’s kind offer then . Ara, let’s go . 」

「Yes, Elena-sama . 」

As Elena and Ara left the room, Rei was going to follow, but a voice called out to stop him .

「Rei, please stay . There’s some things I want to talk about . 」

「……I understand . Then, Elena-sama, I will stay here . 」

As expected, it wasn’t possible for him to talk with her casually before Daska . Rei spoke to Elena in polite language, as he had used when they first met .

Although Elena seemed to have a lonely expression for a moment as she looked at Rei, it was only for a moment . She immediately nodded and spoke up .

「Umu~ . Rei, thank you for your help this time . If you weren’t there, I probably would have been killed by Vel in the dungeon and wouldn’t have come back . I am proud to have worked with an adventurer like you . 」

「……Although various things happened, I thank Rei-dono from the bottom of my heart . Also, suddenly attacking you when we first met……I’m sorry for that . 」

Following after Elena, Ara said that before bowing her head and walking out the room .

As Rei saw them leave, he finally realised that the request had been completed .

「Rei, I would also like to thank you . You have protected Elena well . 」

「No . If I had seen through Vel’s identity earlier……」

「Don’t worry about it . A person’s true character isn’t something you can easily see through . Ah, here . No need to stand there, take a seat . It’s hard to talk if you’re standing . 」

「Then, I’ll accept your offer . 」

Rei gave a small bow to Daska and sat down on the sofa .

「So, onto the main subject……」

Daska had a somewhat guilty look as he started to speak .

「Considering the importance of this request, normally, I could list this as a reasonable achievement for you to rank up to rank C . That is no mistake . But……」

「This request can’t be made public, is it . 」

「……Frankly speaking, yes . Although I’m sorry, I’ll have to ask you to keep the contents of the request a secret for some time . 」

「To be more specific, is it about Vel’s betrayal?」

When Rei asked bluntly, Daska nodded with a bitter expression .

「That’s right . A viscount isn’t a particularly high ranking noble, but a noble is still a noble . To make matters worse, Viscount Sails was well known as one of Duke Kerebel’s aides . If such a person betrayed the country, intense unrest would spread . 」

「But, wouldn’t the Bestir Empire announce that extensively?」

「They certainly will . However, it won’t be such a problem if steps have been taken to reduce the unrest from the other nobles . It’s just a problem of a matter of time . 」

「I understand . I will not speak about the matters of this request until Margrave Rowlocks gives me permission . 」

「……Sorry about this . Because of that, I have to freeze the achievements of the request for a while so you don’t attract too much attention . However, I promise to repay that as soon as I can . ……As for what I can do now, I can add a little something to the reward . 」

Reward, Rei recalled that it had been two platinum coins .

「I agree . If the compensation is increased, there won’t be any problems . I will accept that . 」

「Thanks . 」

After that, Rei reported about the dungeon, the level of alchemy in the Bestir Empire and other things as he spoke for about 30 minutes .

「Then, I apologise but it’s about time I have to leave . 」

As he said that, he turned to look out the windows, which had already dimmed . It would usually still be bright in summer, a sign that autumn was coming .

「That’s right . I seem to have said this many times, but you’ve truly saved me this time with this request . Rei, I wonder what would have happened if you weren’t at rank D . 」

「That’s true, should I say . 」

「Haha, you’re quite confident . Well, that is good for an adventurer . ……Ahh, you should come out tomorrow when Elena leaves to send her off properly . 」

「I understand, 9am tomorrow morning was it?」

「It seems to be so . ……Well, thank you for your hard work . 」

Hearing those words, Rei left the office and returned with Set to the inn to relieve their fatigue from the trip and fell asleep in the bed earlier than usual .